COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (BP) – Emerson Collins has seen firsthand the power of Scripture to dispel darkness among youth and teens trying to navigate life in a world that considers truth subjective.
The 20-something Focus on the Family (FOTF) project manager is tasked with promoting FOTF’s national Bring Your Bible to School Day Oct. 6.
“I, having just graduated from college, saw in my high school and my college just so much darkness,” Collins told Baptist Press, “and I’ve lived through it. I’ve walked friends through it.
“There’s a very real presence of darkness in our schools and our campuses, with the difficulty and rigor of our courses. But also just spiritually, truth is being challenged right now in our culture. And so it is more important that students have Jesus Christ and have the Words of Life.
“Without that hope,” he said, “without that light in our lives, it is so easy to become saddened or despair.”
FOTF’s Bring Your Bible to School Day has grown from 8,000 participants in its 2014 inaugural year to more than 590,000 participants enrolled in 50,000 schools in 2021, FOTF said at BringYourBible.com. Collins is tracking even greater participation for this year’s event that encourages students of public, private and home schools to take their Bibles to school and thereby spur interest in the Word.
“We’re on track this year to blow that number out of the water,” Collins said. “We have already surpassed last year’s registrations and sign ups, and so we are expecting well over 600,000 households to participate this year. And I’m hoping personally over 75,000 schools to participate.” Schools are counted after the event.
Tony Evans, founding senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible College in Dallas and founding president of the Urban Alternative; Ray Comfort, founding president of Living Waters evangelistic ministry; Bible teacher Lysa TerKeurst and musical artists Tauren Wells and John Cooper are among well-known promoters.
Psalm 119:105 is this year’s Scripture, encouraging students to “shine God’s light.” Legal guidance, educational and promotional resources for the event are available at BringYourBible.com, with guidance tailored for students, parents and churches.
Collins, enrolled in a pastoral residency program at Calvary Church in Monument, Colo., saw the power of the Word to transform lives when he led a Navigators Bible student while attending Colorado School of Mines.
